MALIBU, Calif. — Pepperdine men's basketball (7-20, 2-12 WCC) used a 9-0 run to end the game to take down crosstown rival LMU (13-15, 4-11 WCC) by a score of 90-89 Saturday afternoon from Firestone Fieldhouse.

Stefan Cicic scored the game-winning basket with a putback dunk on the offensive glass with 5.4 seconds remaining. Cicic scored a career-high 13 points in the effort, as Aaron Clark also logged a career-high 33 points to lead the Waves.

Clark's effort featured 25 points in the first half as the halftime score read 56-54 in favor of the Lions, with both sides shooting over 63% from the field in the opening 20 minutes. 

The Waves trailed 89-81 with 2:29 remaining, ending the game on a 9-0 run with Cicic accounting for six of the points along with a key triple from Clark. Clark shot 5-for-7 from three-point range in the effort, as the Waves were 10-for-18 as a team from distance.

The win marked Pepperdine's first at home over the Lions since January 2020.

"This was a huge win for us over our crosstown rival LMU," said head coach Ed Schilling. "Scoring 90 points was fantastic and holding them scoreless the last 2:29 of the game was huge. The players never quit despite being down in the last minutes of the game. Aaron was on fire offensively and Stef Cicic came off the bench and played very well, including the game winning tip dunk. I'm so happy for our guys."

The first half was a scoring barrage with both teams finding their shooting stroke early on. Neither team led by more than seven at any point in the half, but both teams held leads of seven points as the Waves flipped a 17-10 deficit into a 39-32 lead.

Clark was the story, scoring 25 points in the half, beginning with 13 points in the opening 5:31 of the contest. He connected on his first two looks from deep to get the scoring started for the Waves, but LMU had answers as Joshua Dalton connected on all three of his three-point attempts in the opening eight minutes.

Both teams picked up the pace and scored at will, with the score reading 25-23 in favor of LMU before the 12:00 mark. Pepperdine used an 8-0 run to take back the lead at 28-25, with Clark and Styles Phipps each converting and-one opportunities.

The back-and-forth scoring continued into the closing munutes, with the Lions' Jan Vide scoring six in the final 100 seconds while Pavle Stosic beat the buzzer for the Waves with a long jumper, making the halftime score a 56-54 LMU advantage.

Pepperdine shot 70.4% from the field in the first half while the Lions were at 63.6%. Three Lions were in double figures at the half, led by Dalton's 12 points, while Clark paced all players with 25 points and five rebounds.

LMU built up a lead early in the second half, with a 9-0 run coming off four straight baskets from Vide and MJ Amey Jr, bringing the score to 67-59 in favor of the road side.

Clark stopped the run with a three, as the scoring slowed down for both sides. Javon Cooley got in on the action, nailing back-to-back threes, bringing the Waves to a 74-71 deficit with 10 minutes to play.

Trading baskets with the defense tightening down the stretch, another Dalton three-pointer gave the Lions an 85-78 lead with 4:30 to play. Dozic answered with a basket, but the Waves were held without a field goal over the next two minutes and an Amey Jr. jumper put LMU ahead 89-81 with 2:29 to play.

The Waves quickly got one back through Cicic with an alley-oop feed from Phipps, with Cicic then knocking down a pair of technical free throws after a flagrant foul with 1:42 remaining. Now trailing by four, the Waves got a key stop on defense with Clak then reaching his new career-high while making his fifth three of the game, as the score read 89-88 with a minute to play. 

The Pepperdine defense once again got a key stop, setting up a possession down by one and the shot clock turned off. Ticking down under 10 seconds, Clark drove to the rim and drew the attention of the defense, seeing his layup fall off the rim but into the hands of Cicic for the putback dunk with 5.4 seconds remaining.

LMU called timeout to set up its final possession, trailing by one. The Waves covered well on the final possession, forcing a long two-point jumper from Amey Jr., which fell short off the front rim, giving the Waves the comeback victory at home.

Game Notes

• Aaron Clark scored a career-high 33 points to go with seven rebounds.
• Clark matched a career-best five three-pointers made on seven attempts.
• Clark has scored 30-plus points in three efforts this season.
• Clark has scored in double figures in eight straight contests, averaging 20.8 points per game over that span.
• Stefan Cicic posted a career-high 13 points while scoring the game-winning basket with 5.4 seconds remaining.
• Cicic converted five of six looks from the field while corralling six rebounds.
• Cicic posted a game-best +9 rating. 
• Danilo Dozic logged 16 points on 3-for-4 shooting from three-point range.
• Dozic has connected on multiple threes in five of his last six games.
• Styles Phipps recorded 11 points, a game-high seven assists and six rebounds.
• Javon Cooley posted 11 points, three rebounds and three assists.
• Cooley was 4-for-6 from the field, making a pair of triples in the contest.
• Pavle Stosic added two points and six rebounds in the effort.
• Stosic, Phipps and Cicic each recorded multiple offensive rebounds.
• Clark, Dozic and Cooley accounted for all 10 makes from three-point range, combining to go 10-for-15.
• Pepperdine's 90 points matched a season-high against a Division I opponent (Nov. 18 vs. New Orleans).
• The Waves shot a season-best .556 from three-point range in the game.
• It marked the fourth contest this season with double-digit makes from three.
• Pepperdine assisted on 19 of 31 field goals.
• The Waves' 19 assists marked a season-best in conference play.
• Eight different players logged an assist for the Waves.
• Pepperdine shot over 70% from the field in the first half (19-for-27).
• The Waves' 31 field goals made marked a season-high against Division I opponents.
• Pepperdine improves to 106-76 in the all-time series against the Lions.

Pepperdine returns on the road Wednesday at Portland (12-15, 5-9 WCC), with tip-off set for 7 p.m. against the Pilots.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Pepperdine men's basketball has made 13 NCAA postseason appearances while earning 12 WCC Regular-Season Championships and three WCC Tournament Championships in its history. This success has spanned multiple decades, with the Waves most recently winning the 2021 CBI Tournament. The program has also seen 19 All-Americans along with 19 NBA players, which included a streak of 34 consecutive seasons with at least one alum on an NBA roster from 1976-2011.

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